As the US Open got under way in New York’s Flushing Meadows, Nike rolled out a new ad leveraging its long running partnership with the barrier breaking and record breaking Williams sisters.
Conceptualised by long-time Nike agency conceptualised by Wieden+Kennedy and part of the sportswear behmoth’s ongoing ‘You Can’t Stop Sports’ platform (which links its athlete endorsers competing on the field with the championing of societal issues), the 60-second spot focuses on the story of Serena and Venus staying unified despite the tennis media and fans dividing them by wins, losses and rankings – instead of focusing on how they’ve changed the sport for good.
As the spot says: “Sister. Mentor. Competitor. Supporter. Advocate. Being sisters isn’t one thing. It’s everything for Venus and Serena Williams. And the more we lift each other, the harder we are to stop”.
The initiative seeks to challenge viewers to address their own preconceptions and reconsider how they view the Williams sisters.
“Ever since we were little you have sought to divide us,” states Venus (who voices the spot) before listing the ways the siblings have been ranked and compared by wins and losses whenever they play each other.
Set to inspiring footage of the sisters playing and revelling in each of their wins, the spot sees Venus state: “It’s funny. You saw two tennis players trying to win a game. We saw two sisters changing it.
The commercial debuted simultaneously on Venus and Serena’s individual Instagram accounts before being amplified across Nike’s social channels and on television during the NBA playoffs and hours ahead of the start of the US Grand Slam.
Outcome:
With 9.8m views on Nike’s YouTube channel alone in the first 24 hours since it was posted on 31 August, it seems there is still plenty of appetite for the Williams sisters and for the brand’s #YouCantStopUs campaign.
Comment:
Following on from the theme of unity of Nike’s previous, stunning split screen epic ‘Nothing Can Stop What We Can Do Together’ (see case study), this Williams sisters spot continues the theme from the family perspective and focuses on both unity and the change the pair have driven in their sport.
Together Venus and Serena Williams have won 122 singles titles and 30 majors and have spent a combined 327 weeks ranked as the top women’s tennis player in the world – there is no doubt they have changed the game forever.
We certainly don’t mean to compare them, but, with several of the world’s top players not competing in this year’s unusual, behind-closed- doors tournament – including Ashleigh Barty and Simona Halep – would this be the year that Serena finally secures that elusive 24th Grand Slam?
Links:
Nike
https://www.nike.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/nike
https://www.instagram.com/nike/
https://twitter.com/nike
https://www.facebook.com/nike
Wieden & Kennedy-Portland
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